Playing cards



Sept. 14, 1926.

INVENTORY ULIFFORDLflLbfRT cQ E. ALBERT 4 PLAYING CARDS Filed June 21, 1926 W/ZWESS I Patented Sept. 14, 1926. j t

UNITED CLIFFORD E. ALBERT, OF'CINGINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE'UNITED STATES PLAY PATENT oFFic-E.

ING CARD COMPANY; oFoI'noINNA'rI, OHIO,"A' CORPORATION or 0310.

PLAYING claims. 7

Application filed J'ilne 21; 1926,1Seria1 No.

My invention relates to playingfcards'and particularly to playing cardsof the customary type, including conventional suit" and value designations, and has "for its object so to place the indexes that'the numbersand values of the cards in a given'hand] may readily be perceived even though suchhand is not arranged by suits in the customary manner, this application being a continuation in part of application.79,308, filed Jan. 5, 1926.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a face view of a hand of cards, for instance in a game of bridge whist, fanned in the usual manner, and Fig. 2 is a face view of one of the cards of Fig. 1. s

As clearly shown in the drawing, the indexes of the cards of two of the suits occupy the usual position or positions in the upper left-hand corner, or upper left-hand and lower right-hand corner, of each card except that the usual order is reversed, the pips being placed above the value designation, while the indexes of the cards of the other two suits are placed in their usual order of pip below the value designation close to the side margins of their respective cards with their value designations spaced from the top margins for a distance substantially equal to that at which the value indicators of the other two suits are spaced from the top margins of their cards. In my preferred arrangement the two suits which have their indexes placed in the corners are suits of contrasting colors, as therefore are also the other two suits. If cards provided with indexes in themanner hereinabove described are fanned, as shown in Fig. 1, or otherwise arranged in overlapping marginal relation, the indexes of the cards of two of the suits will be aligned and the indexes of the cards of the other two suits will also be aligned while the value designations of all the suits will be aligned. The cards of the two sets of suits can readily be distinguished by the different position of their pips relative to the top margins of the cards; by selecting for the former a black suit and a red suit and doing the same for the latter, the cards of the two suits whose pips are in alignment can be more readily distinguished.

It is, of course, to be understood. that all 117,334, and in eanaaa February 22; 192-6.

the cards of a su'it'have their indexes inthe same relative position. H

As the value indicator parts of theindexe's are in alignment they'w'ill, when the cards ofa hand'are fanned orjotherwise placed in marginal overlapping relation, form to the eye a substantially, continuous bandwhich separates the pips of' two ofth'e' suitsfrom the pipsoftheothentwo suits. Therefore,

especially when the indexes for one of the red suits and one of the black suits are placed in the corners and the indexes of the other suits are placed away from the corners as above described, the different cards of a hand may be so clearly distinguished that the arrangement thereof by suits becomes unnecessary even for an inexperienced player, thus avoiding the necessity of arranging the cards according to suits and thereby quickening the play and eliminating the chance of betraying information as to features of value of the hand.

The hand shown in Fig. 1 has the pips of the indexes of the two suits of major value, in a hand of bridge, disposed in the corners while the pips of the indexes of the two suits of minor value are spaced a considerable dstance from the corners. A hand. of cards ,with indexes so arranged may readily be evaluated prior to bidding.

In order to make it still easier forthe eye to separate the cards whose index pips are placed in the corners from the cards These two lines of spacing marks will form to the eye division indications between pips and value indicators, and, especially when they consist of short line marks as shown in the drawings, will define the ed es of the continuous band hereinabove referred to formed by the value indicators. These marks Will moreover assist in arranging the hand. All that need be done is to place them in alignment. 7 7

I claim: 1. A deck of playing cards, the individual cards of two suits of which are provided,

in at least one corresponding corner thereof, with a pip and a value. designation below the pip, such pip and designation constitutother two suits o-favliicli are each provided with a value designation and a pip below the same, said designation and pip constituting an index, the value, designations of the cards or" the latter two suits being spaced from the top margins of their respective cards a distance substantially equal to that at which the value indicators on theother two suits are spaced from the top margins of their cards so that when the cards are fanned the value, designations form to the ing an index, and the individualcards of"- eye a substantially continuous band which separates the pips of the first mentioned two suits from the pips of the last mentioned two suits.

2. A deck of playing cards as claimed in claim 1, in which the first mentioned two suits and the last mentioned two suits are each of contrasting color.

3. A deck of playing cards as claimed in claim 1 in which a spacing mark is placed immediately above each value indicator an d another spacing mark is placed immediately below each value indicator.

4. A deck of playing cards as claimed in claim 1 in which a spacing mark, consisting of a short line parallel to the top edgev of the card, is placed immediately above and immediately below each value indicator respectively.

CLIFFORD E. ALBERT. 

